Recent advances in micro/nano fabrication technologies have made possible the development of a family of scanning ion probes that allows one to obtain topological, optical, thermal, and (bio)electrochemical information simultaneously, in-situ, and with high spatial and temporal resolution. Integration of the atomic force microscope (AFM) probe with other scanning probes, such as scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM), scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM), scanning thermal microscope (SThM), and others, produced a unique ability to simultaneously detect electrical, magnetic, thermal, mechanical, acoustic, and chemical signals. In 1997, Berger et al. introduced the idea of the “lab-on-a-tip” to detect magnetic, electrical, thermal, chemical reaction, stress, and flow signals at the ultimate limits of sensitivities through the cantilever based scanning probe. [See, Berger, R., Gerber, C., Lang, H. P., and Gimzewski, J. K. Micromechanics: a toolbox for femtoscale science: “towards a laboratory on a tip”, Microelectronic Engineering, 35, 373-379, 1997]. However, these techniques have limitations that embodiments of the present disclosure at least partially overcome.